‘Decades old problem’ exacerbates benefits backlog for veterans

[Jarlaxle]

Aparantly your not backlogged.

I doubt those that are will agree with you.

Ignorance is a well-known state of mind for eddie!

 

[g5000]

When I was going through outprocessing training which was intended to teach us retiring vets how to assimilate into civilian life, the disability reps taught the class how to file for disability even if your "disability" was nothing more than deteriorating vision and hearing as the result of the normal aging process and not the result of any hazardous duty.

Most everyone in my class took advantage. I did not as I was absolutely disgusted with this tactic. I was stunned they were actually coaching people to do this.

I am not surprised in the least there is a huge disability application backlog.

 

[Star]

Paperwork's always the problem...

In veterans’ long wait for benefits, paperwork often the problem
June 7, 2013 WASHINGTON —

MORE

[/QUOTE]


Paperwork?

Electronic Medical Records, plus lots-o-overtime pay for VBA employees equals recent improvements.

My question is, will the tax-cutting Republicans vote to fund the improvements the VA has already accomplished on Shinseki's watch as well as future improvements or-----or will the tax-cutting Republicans make our wounded GI's suffer even more than they already have because of their psychotic need to accomplish nothing due to their delusional hatred for President Obama?


News Releases - Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs

VA Progress on Claims Backlog Highlighted during Congressional Testimony

December 11, 2013

<snip>



She [Department of Veterans Affairs’ Under Secretary for Benefits, Allison A. Hickey] also noted that if full funding is received, mandatory overtime for VBA claims processors, which helped bring down the backlog this year, will continue for much of 2014. Key accomplishments highlighted in the testimony included:

• Decreasing the pending inventory of claims by 22 percent;
• Decreasing the number of claims in the backlog (those pending over 125 days) by 36 percent;
• Increasing claim-level accuracy from approximately 83 percent in 2011 to 90 percent today;
• Increasing medical issue-level accuracy to approximately 97 percent today;
• Completed processing of 99.9 percent of all claims that were pending over two years;
• Completed processing of 97 percent of all claims that were pending over one year through the end of October;
• Converting over 360 million images of paper claims documents into a digital format for electronic processing; and
• Establishing over 3.2 million Veteran, Servicemember and family member accounts in eBenefits, the joint Defense Department/VA web portal for accessing and tracking VA benefits.

Also, VA’s web-based, paperless electronic claims processing solution, the Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS), was successfully deployed to all 56 of VA’s regional benefits offices across the country, six months ahead of schedule. VBMS has also been fielded to the Appeals Management Center, the Records Management Center, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, VA’s National Call Center, and all VA Medical Centers. Currently, about 75 percent of the VBA’s claims inventory is in digital form for electronic processing in VBMS – a percentage that is growing daily. In December, VBMS will continue to add new features and capability.


<snip>

4. The IRS is going to be "in charge" of "a huge national database" on health care that will include Americans’ "personal, intimate, most close-to-the-vest-secrets" Pants on Fire.
.

 

[Seawytch]

When I was going through outprocessing training which was intended to teach us retiring vets how to assimilate into civilian life, the disability reps taught the class how to file for disability even if your "disability" was nothing more than deteriorating vision and hearing as the result of the normal aging process and not the result of any hazardous duty.

Most everyone in my class took advantage. I did not as I was absolutely disgusted with this tactic. I was stunned they were actually coaching people to do this.

I am not surprised in the least there is a huge disability application backlog.

Yup...I remember that in my "deprogramming" class too. We were all encouraged to file disability claims for the smallest complaint...because that income isn't taxable.

 

[Seawytch]

And some people want the Government to take over our Healthcare when they can't even handle Veterans?

?Decades old problem? exacerbates benefits backlog for veterans ? MSNBC


The Department of Veterans Affairs has been scrambling to fix its backlog, which has reached 584,308 claims that have been pending for 125 days or more. About 873,680 veterans have filed claims and that number continues to grow.

A backlog huh??

One has to wonder why any sane person would want our Govt involved in HC. They do such a marvelous job with our vets.

Wonder how many backlogs we'll see when the ACA takes effect??

Because sane people know that patient satisfaction at VA hospitals outstrips private ones year after year.

VA Care Is Rated Superior to That in Private Hospitals

Know what other healthcare program is consistently rated high? Yup, that other "gubmit run" program...Medicare.

 

[Edgetho]

And some people want the Government to take over our Healthcare when they can't even handle Veterans?

A backlog huh??

One has to wonder why any sane person would want our Govt involved in HC. They do such a marvelous job with our vets.

Wonder how many backlogs we'll see when the ACA takes effect??

Because sane people know that patient satisfaction at VA hospitals outstrips private ones year after year.

VA Care Is Rated Superior to That in Private Hospitals

Know what other healthcare program is consistently rated high? Yup, that other "gubmit run" program...Medicare.

I've been a veteran for Forty-Three years and let me tell you something.....

The VA just simply SUCKED before GW Bush. And I mean, SUCKED beyond belief.

It wasn't until GW became President of the United States that the VA started to come around.

How federal spending has climbed since 2001 - USATODAY.com

Spending on veterans has increased faster under President Bush than at any time since the Vietnam War

In 2001, Clinton's last budget, the VA got $48 Billion.

In 2009, Bush's last budget, the VA got more than $99 Billion.

Bush more than doubled VA spending...... And on fewer Veterans.

2010 Census

the rapist's budgets for the VA went from $35 Billion to $48 Billion.

In constant 2011 dollars, hardly any increase at all. 10% tops.

As to why Vets think the VA is so good?

It's fucking free!!!

And about half of them are free-loaders.

I was stuck with the VA. I had no choice.

If you read your Health Insurance Policies, the vast Majority of them will have an exclusion that reads (paraphrased), "Any procedure, device, treatment or medicines for which any government body is responsible."

And since my condition was due to my Service to my Country, that would make my 'Country' responsible for my treatments, medicines, procedures, etc. And any sequalae.

So I had no choice but the use the VA. Unless I wanted to commit Insurance fraud.

The VA? It ain't all that, people.

I gotta drive 150 Miles, one way, to see my eye specialist.

Try doing that with your eyes dilated. So I gotta hitch a ride with the local VA Clinic's 'Shuttle'.

Which means I gotta get up at 4:30AM, shit, shower and shave and drive the 12 Miles to THAT fucking Clinic by 6:00AM then ride in a fucking shuttle for 3 hours to Miami, where I have to wait to be seen for two hours because there's so many fucking free-loaders, so they can tell me, "See you in 6 Months."

I usually get home around 4:00PM. If I'm lucky. Sometimes there will be another guy (or two, or three) with us and he has a more serious problem that will take them all day. In which case, I get home around 7:00PM that night. Once, I didn't get home until around eight o'clock.

The VA SUCKS!!!

I will take Private Doctors ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.

Every time.

As usual, dimocraps have no fucking clue

 

[Seawytch]

And, of course, Edgo thinks he speaks for everyone. Here in San Francisco we have one of the best VA hospitals in the world. Top notch, world class. Same goes for the one in Palo Alto. Fabulous facility with cutting edge technology.

Facts are facts...year after year both the VA and Medicare top the charts in customer satisfaction...so tell us the story again about how awful "gubmit run" healthcare is?

How about government run healthcare where private insurance companies can still sell you Cadillac supplements? Can we try?

 

[Edgetho]

And, of course, Edgo thinks he speaks for everyone. Here in San Francisco we have one of the best VA hospitals in the world. Top notch, world class. Same goes for the one in Palo Alto. Fabulous facility with cutting edge technology.

Facts are facts...year after year both the VA and Medicare top the charts in customer satisfaction...so tell us the story again about how awful "gubmit run" healthcare is?

How about government run healthcare where private insurance companies can still sell you Cadillac supplements? Can we try?

Bitch, I use the VA. Do you?

Not everyone has the the Sang Frang VA. The VA Hospital in Miami was forced to close all it's operating rooms due to Staph Infections and AIDS.

It's a fucking dump. The one in Bay Pines (Tampa) isn't a lot better.

As to the Doctors? In Miami, they use the Ophthamologists from Bascomb Palmer -- The best on the Planet.

But the facilities themselves SUCK.

And, as is typical of government, very inefficient. Why do I have travel 300 fucking Miles for an eye appointment when we have some of the best ophthalmologists in the Country right here in Fort Myers? Many of whom GRADUATED from Bascomb Palmer!!

I'll tell you why. It's because the Fort Myers Clinic, which is brand new, doesn't have an Ophthalmology Surgeon on staff. And the Million dollars of equipment. It's cheaper to 'centralize' eye ophthalmology in Miami. Which, the Miami VA serves half the Country for complicated Eye problems. They might send you from Texas to Miami if the problem is complicated enough.

It isn't that the Doctors and the care isn't any good, it's okay, it's that they way they do it is fucking STUPID.

Cataract Surgery? I had two of them.

Each time, I had to go to Miami (300 miles round trip), get a Motel Room (The VA paid for it), report for surgery the next day, have it done, go back to the Motel Room, try to sleep, wake up in the morning and report back to the VA so they can look at it again.

And I had to take my Wife, who had to miss work for two days, so I could get back home.

In the fucking real world, you go in for the surgery and 20 minutes later you're back home sipping a Manhattan. Wake up the next day, drive 10 minutes to your Doctor and have him look at it and back to your Manhattan.

You have NO fucking idea what you're talking about... Bitch. None.

I'm telling you, the VA SUCKS.

I would NOT use it if I didn't have to. No.Fucking.Way.

I gotta go again soon and it's a clusterfuck every time you do something with those people.

Yeah, free stuff? Of course people like free stuff. But when it comes to most of the complicated shit? If they have Private Insurance, that's what they use. If they have Medicare and can use a local, Private Doctor and Hospital, it's what they use.

 

[waltky]

No wonder injured vets are havin' a hard time establishin' their service records...

More than 1,800 vets' records intentionally destroyed or misfiled by 2 clerks
January 30, 2014 -- More than 1,800 personnel records for U.S. veterans were destroyed or misfiled by two student employees of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis County, federal criminal court documents show.

One of the student employees, Lonnie Halkmon, 28, was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service. The other, Stanley Engram, 21, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 7. Both pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government records and faced probation to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines. Engram's guilty plea says that 241 military records were found in the woods near the center on July 3, 2012, with 300 names and Social Security numbers visible on the documents.

The records were traced to Engram, who admitted disposing of the records found in the woods, “abandoning” files in the center and throwing them away at home. In all, he admitted destroying or purposely misfiling more than 1,000 records. Halkmon's plea says that after an “incident,” the center conducted an audit of all records assigned to employees in 2011 and 2012. From Dec. 7, 2011 to March 28, 2012, over 1,200 files were assigned to Halkmon, and 850 were reported missing.

The audit covered 41 employees and Halkmon had the highest error rate. While most employees had an error rate of 3 percent, four other employees had disproportionate error rates, according to a state appellate court ruling. It's not clear the total number of files that are missing and many may never be located due to the huge volume of records at the center. Halkmon had worked at the center since 2005 and resigned rather than being terminated. The other four employees were offered the same deal.

MORE

 

[OriginalShroom]

Their punishment îs not nearly serious enough. The damage the have done to veterans and the amount of hardship their actions are going to impose on any veteran who needs to have their records retrieved is unbelievable. I made three sets of copies of both my medical and personal records before I got out and have one sy to my parents to keep for me. I only did that because I had heard the horror stories. Many people are not able to do that.

Molon Labe

 

[waltky]

IAVA: More effort needed on backlog, electronic medical records...

Veterans group: More effort needed on backlog, electronic medical records
February 3, 2014 ~ The Department of Veterans Affairs made significant strides in reducing the backlog of veteran disability claims last year, but aggressive steps are needed if the remaining 400,000 cases are to be handled and considerations are made for future claims, a new report suggests.

“The Battle to End the VA Backlog” — released Monday by the non-profit advocacy group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America — suggests creation of long-promised electronic medical records shared by the VA and the Defense Department; standardization of VA claims forms; and incentives for VA raters who cut the number of appeals by getting it right the first time. “The VA … has implemented a number of initiatives focusing on automation, personnel and processes to try and update this outdated, paper-based system and address this enormous backlog of claims,” according to the report’s executive summary. “While there has been some progress to decrease the backlog, there is nothing to support which of these initiatives are working and which are not, nor is there evidence of planning beyond FY 2015.

“Overall it must create an infrastructure that allows the disability compensation system to project future needs and adapt to a growing population of new veterans and even more complex injuries.” The report comes on the heels of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, in which he vowed continued progress in addressing the backlog — a major part of his agenda for the past four years — but offered no concrete solutions.

In a statement addressing the report, the VA cites its aggressive plan to end the problem in 2015. “No Veteran should have to wait for benefits they’ve earned and deserve. ... We have made strong progress, and we know there is more work to do. ... Many of the recommendations in this report are consistent with our goals, addressed in our Transformation Plan, and reflect action already taken or underway.” VA disability claims ballooned when America’s veterans began returning home — many severely injured — from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the wars dragged on, the VA struggled to keep up as more and more entered the system.

Between 2009 and 2012, the number of backlogged claims — those pending for more than 125 days — tripled, and more than two-thirds of the pending claims were backlogged, according to the report. In March 2013, the number of backlogged claims topped 600,000, with an additional 300,000 in the system. Initiatives by the department reduced the backlog by more than 35 percent through December, the report said. VA officials have said they are on pace to end the backlog in 2015.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - VA caught fibbin'...

Secretary: VA cannot fire officials while investigations continue
November 6, 2014 WASHINGTON — The secretary of Veterans Affairs fired another shot in the battle over the continued employment of senior officials at the center of a national scandal, saying he cannot dismiss them while criminal investigations are ongoing.

That contradicts what a Justice Department official told congressional committee investigators, as first reported by Stars and Stripes. That official said the Department of Justice “takes no position” on such employment matters. But when questioned Thursday at a reporter’s roundtable, Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald said his hands are tied. “We need to wait for the FBI to finish their investigations before we can act,” he said. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is among a group in Congress who have criticized the lack of firings, said the secretary is using the DOJ criminal probes as a “smokescreen” to cover a lack of action. “They can continue the [criminal] investigation after they fire them,” McCain told Stars and Stripes. “We gave him the authority in the law — for bad performance, not criminal behavior — to have the ability to get rid of them, so that was the clear understanding.”

The VA has been embroiled in scandal since whistleblowers reported the existence of secret wait lists and records manipulation at a Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system. Subsequent investigation revealed similar problems nationwide and cost former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki his job. The VA has been under intensifying scrutiny for continuing to pay senior leaders who have been linked to the scandal. In particular, the Phoenix system’s director, Sharon Helman, and her continued employment have come in for heavy criticism. A report by the VA Inspector General’s office accused her of presiding over an office that falsified documents and the creation of secret wait lists to make it appear patient wait times were shorter than they were and recommended she be fired. She remains on paid leave, collecting her $170,000 salary.

Several other VA officials implicated in wrongdoing have been able to retire before they were fired, meaning they kept benefits they otherwise may have lost. In those cases, McDonald said his hands are tied by the law. “The law says you can not claw back retirement earned over a career unless a person commits treason or a treasonous-like activity,” he said. Critics are also saying the VA has missed a deadline for issuing “choice cards” that would allow some veterans to be covered by their benefits for care outside the VA system. “It’s tragic that not only did the department fail to meet the deadline, but it then chose to paper-over the fact by releasing a letter from Secretary McDonald claiming they are in the process of rolling out the choice card while providing few concrete specifics,” Concerned Veterans of America CEO Pete Hegseth said in a released statement.

The law states that “the Secretary shall, not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, issue to each veteran described” in the bill. Nov. 5 marked 90 days after the enactment of the law. On Thursday, McDonald said the VA is working to roll out the cards responsibly so that veterans are clear about whether they are eligible and denied that they had missed a deadline. The cards are to be sent out in three phases and all are to be mailed out by January, according to a Wednesday blog post by McDonald. The VA has begun mailing cards to the first group, veterans who live more than 40 miles from a VA facility. “The law didn’t specify specifically,” he said, “which cards would go out on which day or to which addresses.”

Secretary VA cannot fire officials while investigations continue - News - Stripes

See also:

Justice Department undercuts VA explanations on not firing executives
November 5, 2014 WASHINGTON — The VA says it has held off for months on firing top management linked to a nationwide health care scandal because of ongoing criminal probes by the Department of Justice.

But the DOJ this week told House investigators it takes no position on the VA firing disgraced Phoenix hospital director Sharon Helman and others who were in charge while hundreds of veteran hospitals and clinics manipulated patient data. House and Senate lawmakers have hammered the Department of Veterans Affairs on the lack of firings three months after Congress passed a $16.3-billion overhaul law, which included a provision allowing Secretary Bob McDonald to fire senior executives at will, replacing a process that often took months with one that takes just four weeks. The VA told the House Veterans Affairs Committee it was asked by the DOJ to wait on terminations until criminal probes were completed. But the DOJ denied that when questioned by the committee in the run-up to a Capitol Hill hearing on the issue. “The Department of Justice takes no position concerning whether the employment matters … should proceed or be stayed,” according to a Nov. 3 DOJ email to the House committee, obtained by Stars and Stripes.

The VA declined to answer questions about its reasons for delaying employee terminations in light of the DOJ statement or provide any example of an executive who has been fired using the new law. The DOJ and the FBI, along with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel and the VA inspector general, are conducting more than 100 criminal and administrative investigations, according to the VA. “When evidence of wrongdoing is discovered, VA will hold employees accountable and take action as quickly as law and due process allows,” department spokeswoman Linda West wrote in an email. West said the agency has “proposed disciplinary action” against more than 40 of its employees for data manipulation and patient care since June.

The VA made a string of announcements in September and October about managers it recommended for termination but it remains unclear how many have actually been fired. Helman remains on paid administrative leave six months after she was found at the epicenter of the nationwide scandal over VA doctoring electronic wait-time records to mask long and sometimes dangerous treatment delays, according to Senate and House lawmakers who have complained. Agency audits have substantiated the data manipulation in Phoenix but were unable to determine whether it was indeed responsible for veteran deaths — a conclusion that has drawn controversy since.

Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said the agency has the evidence needed to fire Helman and that keeping her and other executives connected to wrongdoing on the payroll is a waste of taxpayer money. “The Department of Justice has already said it doesn’t mind if Helman is fired, so VA’s excuses as to why taxpayers must continue to pay her nearly $170,000 a year for doing nothing are simply hot air,” he said in a written statement.

The VA would not say whether it still employs Terry Gerigk Wolf, the former director of the VA health care system in Pittsburgh who oversaw a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that killed at least six patients and sickened many others. The agency’s Office of Accountability Review, which was created by McDonald to root out a culture of corruption, determined Wolf should be fired on Oct. 3 — a process that could be completed by now under the new VA termination law — but the VA appears to have given her more time to appeal, according to the Tribune-Review newspaper.

Justice Department undercuts VA explanations on not firing executives - News - Stripes

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Shame on him - shame, shame!...

Emails: Michigan county VA director sought cash, gifts from veterans
January 7, 2015 ~ A county’s Veterans Affairs director in Michigan resigned Monday after emails were published in which he is shown to be demanding payment or other favors of veterans whom he had been helping with their health benefits.

In emails obtained by media outlets, former Calhoun County Veterans Affairs Office Director Scott Losey asked for “a few dead presidents,” “Christmas presents” and other gifts from those seeking the department’s help. In one of the emails, dated Oct. 20, 2011, Losey wrote about the hard work he’d done at his own home for one veteran. “We will discuss a gentleman’s agreement to compensate for my personal time,” Losey wrote. “I have worked cases for veterans who reside outside Calhoun County over the past couple of years with the same kind of agreement. I will not gouge you like your Social Security lawyer. Perhaps 7 to 10 percent is typically the agreement. I have had veterans screw me over big time as well. Does this sound cool?”

“Also, where is my Christmas present,” Losey wrote in all capital letters in one email in December 2009. “Just so you know, my wife and I like to go out every once in a while for dinner…” Losey also said in one of the emails to a veteran that “a few pain meds from your stash will suffice for now,” and in another that “I suppose now is as good as any to request one month truck payment as a confidential gentleman’s agreement for a job well done.” Losey, director of the office for 15 years with an annual salary of $64,351, resigned after a veteran’s widow claimed he had shaken her down for $200 for the work he’d done on her husband’s claim.

Former Calhoun County Veterans Affairs Office Director Scott Losey asked for “a few dead presidents,” “Christmas presents” and other gifts from veterans seeking the department’s help, according to emails obtained by media outlets.

Calhoun County Administrator Kelli Scott told local outlet 24 Hour News 8 the case has been turned over to the federal government for investigation. A county attorney, Richard Lindsey, said the county has also opened up an investigation. “The emails that you got copies of were disappointing, to say the least,” Scott said. “Accepting gifts on behalf of service performed in his official duty as a county employee absolutely would not be acceptable,” she continued. The emails were sent out as recently as December. “When the decision comes back as a winner and you receive that big fat retroactive check,” he wrote in an email dated May 22, 2014. “I need $1,600 to repair my transmission and YOU are going to help me out. DEAL?”

Emails Michigan county VA director sought cash gifts from veterans - News - Stripes

See also:

Clay Hunt veteran suicide bill returns in new Congress
January 7, 2015 WASHINGTON — A bill to overhaul veteran suicide prevention programs is getting another chance in Congress after being scuttled last month by a retiring Senate budget hawk.

The Clay Hunt SAV Act, named after a Marine veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who committed suicide, was reintroduced Wednesday by a group of House lawmakers and was expected to be filed in the Senate soon. It calls for a one-stop website with suicide prevention resources for veterans, more Department of Veteran Affairs psychiatrists and an independent review of current department programs to determine which are effective. Veteran groups have lauded the bill, and Hunt’s parents repeatedly lobbied for it on Capitol Hill. The VA struggles with veterans suicides, estimated at 22 per day.

The House unanimously passed the bill last year and the Senate was poised to do the same, but in the final hours of the 2014 session Tom Coburn, a GOP senator from Oklahoma, blocked a vote, saying the VA could improve services without a new law and budget cuts were needed to pay the $22 million price tag. “Solutions to this horrific problem will only come from comprehensive, new ideas that improve the accessibility and effectiveness of mental health care available to our veterans,” Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said in a statement released Wednesday. Miller, who chairs the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said it includes “crucial independent, third-party oversight” and requires greater VA accountability for its suicide prevention programs.

Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., and Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., also co-sponsored the bill. “We must take action and I continue to believe that this bipartisan bill is a step in the right direction,” Walz said in a news release. “We can and must work urgently to send this bill to the president’s desk without delay.” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will also re-introduce the legislation in the Senate, according to an aide. He filed the bill last year and had 21 co-sponsors. Another of the bill’s allies in the upper chamber of Congress, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., this week was publicly supporting another attempt to pass the bill.

This handout photo from November 2010 shows Clay Hunt in the 2010 Florida Ride. Hunt was a Marine Corps veteran who battled post-traumatic stress disorder, killed himself in 2011 after tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Blumenthal, who is now the ranking member on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, went head-to-head with Coburn last month, urging the Republican to release his hold on the legislation and allow a Senate vote, though the pressure ultimately failed. Coburn was known for his harsh criticisms of government spending and his annual publication the Wastebook, which listed what he considered the most egregious cases. Coburn argued that a massive overhaul of the VA passed last summer already pumped billions of dollars into fixing its programs and said that Congress should spend this year pressing the department for results on suicide prevention. “Don’t pass another bill; hold the VA accountable,” he said in a Dec. 15 floor speech.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of American, a veterans’ service group, has vigorously supported the Clay Hunt bill and says it agrees the VA oversight is needed but that it must be coupled with specific changes to the suicide prevention programs. For example, the bill creates new incentives for hiring more psychiatrists and would force the VA to address a critical lack of staff, according to the group. But it is unlikely the bill will need to survive the same staunch opposition or criticism in the Senate, said Alex Nicholson, the IAVA legislative director. Coburn was virtually the sole opponent and nearly all other Senators from the prior session appeared on board. The group is still feeling out some freshmen lawmakers. “We expect the House to move a lot quicker and most likely the Senate will take up the House-passed version on the floor in February,” Nicholson said.

Clay Hunt veteran suicide bill returns in new Congress - Veterans - Stripes

 

[waltky]

Another VA claims backlog roadblock...

VA Claims Backlog, Signature Problem Frustrate Nevada Veterans
Sep 08, 2015 | Nevada veterans with questions about delays in processing their disability claims and the ever-growing backlog say they've hit another roadblock.

Veterans in the Reno area received letters about the status of their claims from a manager at the city's Veterans Benefits Administration Service Center who no longer works there, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Willie L. Smith, a 30-year career Air Force veteran from North Las Vegas, said he's received a total of three letters from Allen Bittler, who hasn't worked at the agency's Reno regional office since he retired nearly two years ago, according to the newspaper. Smith received a letter dated March 30 and signed by "A. Bittler," informing him, "We are still processing your application for COMPENSATION."

Smith told the paper he wants to know why months have passed without his receiving a disability rating decision, when the Department of Veteran Affairs recently announced the wait time for such decisions was down to 95 days from 357 days at the peak of the backlog in February 2013. Smith receives VA health care for other disabilities, but submitted a claim for a heart condition and spinal, neck and shoulder injuries in September 2014. "All I want is a final determination," Smith told the paper. "Based on what they're saying about 95 days, why isn't mine resolved?"

VA officials said they do not comment on individual cases, but a spokesman for the Veterans Benefits Administration in Reno told the newspaper its office has "identified a computer glitch that continued to use Mr. Bittler's name on some outgoing correspondence." The mistake was caught in March, according to spokesman Nathanial Miller.

VA Claims Backlog, Signature Problem Frustrate Nevada Veterans | Military.com

 

[waltky]

IG's report is in...

IG Report: 300,000 Veterans Died While Waiting for Health Care at VA
Sep 04, 2015 WASHINGTON -- More than 300,000 American military veterans likely died while waiting for health care -- and nearly twice as many are still waiting -- according to a new Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general report.

The IG report says "serious" problems with enrollment data are making it impossible to determine exactly how many veterans are actively seeking health care from the VA, and how many were. For example, "data limitations" prevent investigators from determining how many now-deceased veterans applied for health care benefits or when. But the findings would appear to confirm reports that first surfaced last year that many veterans died while awaiting care, as their applications got stuck in a system that the VA has struggled to overhaul. Some applications, the IG report says, go back nearly two decades. The report addresses serious issues with the record-keeping itself.

A visitor leaves the Sacramento Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Rancho Cordova, Calif.

More than half the applications listed as pending as of last year do not have application dates, and investigators "could not reliably determine how many records were associated with actual applications for enrollment" in VA health care, the report said. The report also says VA workers incorrectly marked thousands of unprocessed health-care applications as completed and may have deleted 10,000 or more electronic "transactions" over the past five years. Linda Halliday, the VA's acting inspector general, said the agency's Health Eligibility Center "has not effectively managed its business processes to ensure the consistent creation and maintenance of essential data" and recommended a multi-year plan to improve accuracy and usefulness of agency records.

Halliday's report came in response to a whistleblower who said more than 200,000 veterans with pending applications for VA health care were likely deceased. The inspector general's report substantiated that claim and others, but said there was no way to tell for sure when or why the person died. Similarly, deficiencies in the VA's information security -- including a lack of audit trails and system backups -- limited investigators' ability to review some issues fully and rule out data manipulation, Halliday said. The VA has said it has no way to purge the list of dead applicants, and said many of those listed in the report are likely to have used another type of insurance before they died.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Allison Hickey resigns under pressure...

VA Undersecretary Resigns amid Pressure from Lawmakers, Vets Groups
Oct 16, 2015 | Veterans Benefits Administration Under Secretary Allison Hickey on Friday stepped down from the Veterans Affairs Department, where VA Secretary Bob McDonald said he accepted her resignation "with regret."

Hickey had been under pressure to resign by some lawmakers and veterans organizations, most recently for allowing a VA senior executive to move into a job that she coerced her predecessor to leave. Diana Rubens, now director of VA regional office in Philadelphia, also picked up $274,000 in moving assistance, according to the VA's Office of the Inspector General, which recommended that Hickey should be disciplined for choosing Rubens. The IG's findings also prompted The American Legion to renew its own call for Hickey to go, which it first made in 2014 after reports emerged of VA medical centers concealing the scope of veterans awaiting appointments by keeping names on unofficial lists.

Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Benefits Allison Hickey speaks to veterans and VA employees at a "Healthy Heart" event in Washington, D.C.​

McDonald made no reference to any VA scandal in announcing Hickey's resignation but praised her work with the department and her prior service with the U.S. Air Force. "The Department of Veterans Affairs, and I personally, appreciate all that Allison has done to help transform VA for the veterans we are privileged to serve," McDonald said. "She has been an exceptional colleague and an even better friend, to me. Her commitment to excellence and service to our country is unquestioned, and we wish her all the best in her next endeavors."

McDonald credited Hickey with leadership in increasing to more than 5 million the number of veterans and survivors receiving monthly compensation and pension benefits, as well as reducing the claims backlog by nearly 90 percent – from 611,000 in 2013 to 75,316 currently, while also improving accuracy. "Allison has served our country with honor for more than 30 years," McDonald said, "in the United States Air Force on active duty, in the Air National Guard, in the Air Force Reserve, [and] retiring with the rank of brigadier general as the director of the Air Force's Future Total Force office at the Pentagon, and here at VA as the Under Secretary for Benefits."

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VA Cites Phoenix Facility for Poor Urology Care
Oct 16, 2015 -- Staffing shortages and a lack of access to clinical records unnecessarily endangered the health of several Phoenix patients battling prostate and bladder cancer, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said Thursday.

In a new report, the VA's Office of Inspector General cited several failures of the Phoenix VA's urology care. Patients' appointments were canceled because of a failure to address a staffing crisis. Non-VA providers' clinical documents were not readily made available to health care administrators, according to the review. In all, the inspector general's office said 10 patients experienced delays in care that put them at risk. U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, called the details in the report "absolutely tragic and appalling." "No veteran should ever be denied care after he put his life on the line in our country," the Georgia Republican said in a statement. "I expect every person responsible for this tragedy to be held accountable."

The embattled Phoenix VA Health Care System was at the center of a national scandal last year about wait times and other problems that led to a system-wide overhaul. The former director of the Phoenix operation lost her job amid reports administrators falsified waiting lists in order to collect bonuses. Isakson said the report was following up on several quality-of-care problems that were identified in the Phoenix VA Health Care System last year. U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla. and chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said the report is another reminder that VA leaders still have a lot of work ahead of them. "It's well past time for VA to clean up the mess in Phoenix. That means providing veterans with the care they have earned in a timely fashion and swiftly firing any employee standing in the way of this important task," Miller said.

More than 1,400 patients experienced delays in getting new evaluations or follow-up appointments with urology-affiliated physicians. "Patients who experienced delays also likely experienced frustration, confusion, and often fear related to not getting appointment," the report stated. The 10 patients who were most affected included a man in his 60s with a history of prostate cancer. A follow-up appointment in February 2013 was canceled by the VA clinic and never rescheduled. When the man saw a primary care physician 10 months later, the cancer had spread to his spine and he died in April 2014. The inspector general's report recommends that the Phoenix VA's interim director ensure resources are in place to guarantee timely urological care. It also called for non-VA providers' patient care records to be readily accessible in an electronic database.

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McCain Hits VA Over Pick to Lead Southwest Region VA HealthCare
Oct 16, 2015 | A Veterans Affairs Department decision to appoint as head of a Southwest regional health network an official who allegedly gave false testimony to Congress about appointment wait times has drawn the ire of Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, who says “veterans in my state deserve better than to have a director who misled Congress about patient wait times or understated the severity of the VA’s failures.”

McCain made known his objection to Dr. Skye McDougall’s selection to head the regional network that includes the VA Medical Center in Phoenix in a letter Wednesday to VA Secretary Bob McDonald. “I believe that this selection does nothing to regain veterans’ confidence that the VA has been reformed in the aftermath of the tragic scandal during which veterans died waiting for care while senior VA executives collected monetary bonuses,” McCain wrote. The VA declined to comment on the letter beyond saying it would respond to McCain’s office. The Phoenix VA hospital was ground zero to the patient wait-times scandal that rocked the department last year and led to the resignation McDonald’s predecessor, Eric Shinseki.

Whistleblowers reported the hospital maintained a secret list of veterans seeking appointments, which it kept separate from the official list in order to conceal the scope of the hospital’s inability to meet demand. Subsequent investigation by the VA’s Inspector General’s office determined the ploy was systemic across VA. The IG also concluded that delays in getting care contributed to the deaths of some veterans. McDougall is the chief medical officer and acting director of the VA’s Desert Pacific Healthcare Network, which includes the VA’s Greater Los Angeles Medical System. She is slated to take over the Southwest region during the first week of November. In testimony before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on Feb. 10, 2015, McDougall said the “average wait time for a new patient [at the L.A. system] right now is about four days.”

But data and whistleblower information reported by CNN in March indicated that the average wait time for a new patient there was 48 days, with some veterans waiting six months to be seen. House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, asked the VA Office of the Inspector General in July to investigate the discrepancy between her testimony and the CNN report. The VA denies her testimony was false, and said the discrepancy in wait times is the result of the VA appointment system registering a “create date” when an appointment is made as well as a “preferred date” given by the veteran. “The create date and the preferred date could be the same, but usually they are not the same,” the VA said. The VA measures both dates.

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[waltky]

Congress gettin' in the way of VA abuse of power probe...

Congress Hampering Probes of VA Abuse of Power: Department Officials
Oct 21, 2015 | A U.S. House of Representatives inquiry into allegations that senior executives at the Veterans Affairs Department abused their positions of authority hampers ongoing investigations, agency officials said.

Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson made the warning in a letter Tuesday to House Veterans Affairs Committee Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, explaining why he would not allow five VA executives to testify before the House panel on Wednesday on allegations raised in a report by the department's office of the inspector general. "[This] committee's questioning VA witnesses about the individual accountability issues raised in the OIG report creates the appearance that accountability actions may have been pre-decided," Gibson wrote. "The OIG report ... is not evidence, but simply the investigator's summary of what they believed the evidence to show." In addition to the VA's investigation, the U.S. Attorney's office is also reviewing the IG report to determine if criminal charges should be brought against anyone.

Gibson said that while the IG report came out last month, he only received on Oct. 16 the "full evidentiary record" upon which investigators drew their conclusions. "It is critical that I be afforded the opportunity to review the evidence and make the necessary decisions independent of undue external influence," he wrote. "I ask, simply, that the Committee wait until the appropriate time to question witnesses about these still-pending matters." But the House committee on Wednesday voted to subpoena the five witnesses, including former Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey, who resigned from her position last week. The five must now appear before the panel on Nov. 2. During the hearing, Miller said Gibson informed the committee last week that none of the witnesses the panel asked to hear from would attend, but that he would testify on behalf of the VA. Miller rejected Gibson's bid to testify.

In addition to Hickey, the lawmakers have subpoenaed Diana Rubens, director of the VA's Philadelphia Regional Office; Kimberley Graves, director of the St. Paul, Minnesota, Regional Office; Antoine Waller, director of the Baltimore Regional Office; and Robert McKenrick, director of the Los Angeles Regional Office. According to the IG report, Rubens had been a deputy under secretary for field operations until she took over as director for Philadelphia post in June 2014, replacing McKenrick. McKenrick told the IG he was told to take the Los Angeles position or lose his job. Graves, formerly director of the Veterans Benefits Administration's Eastern Area Office (now called the North Atlantic District) took over as director of the St. Paul position in October 2014. Waller, who had held that position, told investigators he reluctantly left it for the Baltimore position after Graves' subordinate told him his name had already been given to VA Secretary Bob McDonald for the job and he was expected to take it.

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Missouri Woman Sentenced for Defrauding Veterans Program
Oct 21, 2015 — A 70-year-old Missouri woman has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for defrauding a federal program designed to award contracts to businesses owned by service-disabled veterans.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom says Mary Parker of Blue Springs, Missouri, pleaded guilty in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas, to one count of aiding and abetting wire fraud. She admitted helping her son, Warren Parker, and her son, Michael Parker, in making false claims for their company, Silver Star Construction of Blue Springs and Stilwell, Kansas.

Prosecutors say the company obtained more than $6.7 million in contracts from the Department of Veterans Affairs. An investigation determined that Warren Parker never was classified as a service-disabled vet. He was sentenced in 2012 to 87 months in prison.

Missouri Woman Sentenced for Defrauding Veterans Program | Military.com

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Congress Subpoenas VA Officials Over IG Allegations
Oct 21, 2015 | Congress has issued subpoenas to five Veterans Affairs Department employees after they failed to show up and testify before a House panel on Wednesday in connection with a damning inspector general report alleging misuse of authority and a VA relocation program.

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, said he asked on Oct. 1 that the five -- former Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey, Diana Rubens, director of the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Regional Office, Kimberley Graves, director of the St. Paul, Minnesota Regional Office, Antione Waller, director of the Baltimore Maryland Regional Office and Robert McKenrick, director of the Los Angeles Regional Office -- to testify on the IG allegations. "As you can see, their seats are empty and apparently they will not appear at today's hearing," Miller said. The hearing stems from a VA IG report that concluded Rubens and Graves used their positions to push the former Philadelphia and St. Paul regional directors out of their jobs so they could fill them. The report also found they improperly benefited from a relocation assistance program that provided them hundreds of thousands of dollars to move to their new locations.

Rubens had been a deputy under secretary for field operations until she took over as director for Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Philadelphia in June 2014. Graves, formerly director of the Veterans Benefits Administration's Eastern Area Office (now called the North Atlantic District) took over as director of the St. Paul, Minnesota, position in October 2014. Acting VA Inspector General Linda Halliday told lawmakers Wednesday that the Justice Department is currently reviewing the IG's findings, which it forwarded to the department for possible criminal charges. McKenrick, who was transferred from Philadelphia to the Los Angeles regional office, told the IG he was told to take the LA position or lose his job. Waller reluctantly left as director of the St. Paul regional office for the Baltimore position after Graves' subordinate told him his name had already been given to VA Secretary Bob McDonald for the job and he was expected to take it.

Acting VA Inspector General Linda Halliday told lawmakers that VBA used reassignments through its job change and relocation assistance programs as a way to increase senior executive salary pay during a time when SES salaries were frozen and bonuses halted. "During an interview, we asked [Hickey] if salary increases and relocation incentives were a way to get around pay freezes and bans on performance bonuses," Halliday said in her testimony. "The Under Secretary stated that the salary increases were about ‘level-setting pay.'" Hickey also said the increases and incentives were more about resetting base pay to get everybody into "a more even, more fair model," Halliday told the House panel. Hickey resigned her job last week amid growing pressure from lawmakers and veterans groups for allowing Rubens and Graves to move into their new jobs and benefit from the relocation program that saw Rubens pick up $274,000 in moving assistance and Graves $129,000.

Congress Subpoenas VA Officials Over IG Allegations | Military.com

 

[waltky]

VA to get help from the private care sector...

Private Hospital Network to Help VA with Mental Health Care for Vets
Nov 06, 2015 | WASHINGTON — With too many wounded service members struggling to get timely and consistent mental health care at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency has been forced to look outside its own walls to get them the help they need. Toward that goal, the VA is in talks to become involved formerly in a unique network of private hospitals across the country that will offer free outpatient mental health care to thousands of veterans.

The Warrior Care Network was founded by the nonprofit Wounded Warrior Project with a $70 million grant. It will launch in early 2016 at four major medical centers to diagnose, rehabilitate and design modes of care for suffering veterans. The clinicians will share their case studies and research to document best treatments for veterans from such mental wounds as mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress. It could be “a game-changer for veterans,” said Jeremy Chwat, chief strategy officer at Wounded Warrior Project. “The reason we pursued this, in large part, is that in findings year over year in our survey, warriors are struggling to access mental health care on a daily basis,” he said. “There’s a dearth of culturally competent clinicians to meet the need.”

Last week, a report by the Government Accountability Office found the VA remains inconsistent in giving veterans timely mental health care appointments and facilities are not tracking appointment wait times properly, so veterans sometimes wait far longer for appointments than the official records indicate. It’s the latest in a long chain of indicators that the VA simply cannot handle the demand on its services. Chwat and others involved in the network said this could mark a new way forward to fill that gap. Officials at the VA declined to comment. The network hospitals will offer two types of outpatient treatments for some 3,000 to 4,000 veterans each year. The first involves regular appointments with a therapist or doctor. The second is a more intensive two- or three-week treatment program in which veterans can be flown in from anywhere in the country and undergo a thorough examination, diagnosis and course of treatment, similar to what the military centers of excellence have been doing for active duty servicemembers. The veteran would be sent back home with a plan for continued care.

Involving the VA in the network would help veterans transition between the VA and private care and would allow for doctors in the network to write prescriptions that would be recognized at the VA, Chwat said. It also would mean veterans could seek the prescribed follow-on care at the VA. Ensuring continued care is critical, and the VA will have to hold up its end, Chwat said. “Making sure we have the follow-on treatment is crucial to the success and we are going to need the VA for that,” he said. “It is the piece of this that keeps me up at night.” Participating in the network: Emory Healthcare’s Veterans Program in Atlanta, the Home Base Program at Massachusetts General in Boston, Operation Mend at UCLA Health in Los Angeles and the Road Home Program at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

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Getting away with white collar crime...

VA Lacks Authority to Force Executives to Return $400K Netted in Scam
Nov 25, 2015 | The Department of Veterans Affairs will not try to recoup the more than $400,000 netted by two senior VA executives who manipulated the hiring system to get their jobs of choice and received the money to relocate.

The agency has remained silent on questions about its decision to demote and transfer but not fire executives Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves, and whether it would collect repayment of those relocation benefits. The original statement from the VA announcing the decision said the women had the right to appeal their reassignments. But Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, who chairs the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said the VA's top lawyer has determined that the agency does not have the legal authority to recoup the money, even after acknowledging that the women had abused their offices. "I am flabbergasted," Miller said in a letter to VA Secretary Bob McDonald, released Tuesday. "How can it be that the law prohibits recouping benefits paid to, or on behalf of, employees who only received those benefits because they abused their positions of authority? To put it mildly, VA's decision defies common sense."

VA St. Paul Regional Office Director Kimberly Graves listens at a Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Nov. 2, 2015. Graves asserted her Fifth Amendment rights under the Constitution against self-incrimination.​

On Sept. 28, the VA Inspector General's office issued a report finding that Rubens and Graves had "inappropriately used their positions of authority for personal and financial benefit" by arranging the transfer of subordinates whose jobs they wanted and then volunteering to fill the vacancies. Rubens became director of Veterans Benefits Administration's Philadelphia and Wilmington regional offices and received $274,019.12 for relocation expenses under a program that was meant to offer incentives for hard-to-fill posts. Graves became director of the VBA's St. Paul, Minnesota, regional office, with relocation pay of $129,467.56. The relocation incentives program has since been indefinitely put on hold. Both women maintained their senior executive salaries after transferring to these less-demanding jobs. Their predecessors also received relocation costs totaling $60,000, the report found. Rubens received an $8,000 bonus last year, which she was not asked to repay.

The report recommended that the VA deputy secretary consult with the VA's Office of General Counsel to determine whether Rubens and Graves should have to repay their relocation expenses. Asked about the information in Miller's letter, VA spokesman James Hutton responded by email, saying only, "I have nothing new for you on this." When asked about the determination by the Office of General Counsel and whether criminal charges would be referred against Rubens and Graves, the Office of Inspector General said, "We do not have information that is responsive to your questions," and deferred questions of possible prosecution to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Neither that office nor the Department of Justice immediately responded to a query on the issue. McDonald's press secretary did not respond to calls and emails. A call to McDonald's personal cell phone went to voicemail, and no one responded.

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Granny says demote `em back to the mail room...

Dodging Criminal Charges, Former VA Execs May Still Be Disciplined
Dec 31, 2015 | The two former executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs dodged criminal charges but still may face disciplinary action for manipulating the VA's hiring system for personal gain.

The Associated Press reported this week that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia declined a referral from the VA inspector general for criminal prosecution of Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves, who were accused of forcing subordinates to vacate positions they wanted for themselves. But the VA's own disciplinary process has restarted, according to a source who requested anonymity to freely discuss the matter with Military.com. The case has faced intense scrutiny from lawmakers, including Rep. Jeff Miller, a Republican from Florida and the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, who referenced the issue as recently as last week in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Diana Rubens​

The inspector general report "detailed how the VA executives pressured subordinates to accept position transfers only to volunteer for the vacated jobs while keeping their original salaries and having VA pay them more than $400,000 in taxpayer funded relocation benefits," he wrote in the Dec. 22 correspondence, a copy of which was obtained by Military.com. "Will the DoJ pursue charges against these employees?" he added. "If not, why not?" In the letter, Miller also referenced another scandal at the department involving the manipulation of patient wait times and asked Lynch for an update on the investigation beyond the Phoenix hospital where the issue first surfaced. A spokesman for the Justice Department didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Military.com.

Graves, the former director of the St. Paul, Minnesota Regional Office, and Rubens, director of the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Regional Office, last month repeatedly invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during an inquiry into the matter led by Miller. The two faced disciplinary action under the provisions of the Accountability Act that lawmakers passed last year to fast-track firings of VA employees for misbehavior or incompetence, according to Danny Pummill, principal deputy undersecretary for benefits. "They are now in the appeal process," he said during the hearing. "At the end of seven days, we can tell the committee what the punishment was."

Kimberly Graves​

But the effort was delayed after VA officials reportedly failed to provide additional evidence during an appeals hearing -- an oversight that apparently caused the process to start over. A spokesman for the VA didn't immediately respond to a telephone request for comment regarding the resumption of the disciplinary process against Rubens and Graves. Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washington, D.C., said the case highlights shortcomings in the department's rules. "Just because something stinks doesn't make it criminally illegal," he said in an email to Military.com. "The two individuals exposed loopholes that need to be fixed to ensure that no one else can manipulate the system for personal gain."

Dodging Criminal Charges, Former VA Execs May Still Be Disciplined | Military.com